The acute issue of returning citizens from abroad can only be solved by creating competitive opportunities in Ukraine, said Vasyl Khmelnytsky, Ukrainian entrepreneur, founder of UFuture holding, UNIT.City innovation park and Bila Tserkva industrial park, at the forum “Industrial Evolution: Production Turns on the Economy” forum held in Bila Tserkva on Thursday.
“People often ask what needs to be done to bring our people back from abroad. I see no other way but to create competitive opportunities in Ukraine – quality education, jobs, decent wages, living standards and services. An industrial park is just such a point of economic growth and a magnet for innovation, investment and talent,” Khmelnytsky emphasized.
Thanks to the support of industrial parks by the state and the local community, the country receives investments.
“Last year, we transferred UAH 18 million in taxes to the local budget from Bila Tserkva Industrial Park, this year (we expect) UAH 25 million, and next year – UAH 50 million. In 20 years, it will be more than a billion. And this is only the local level. Today we are laying the foundation for the future for decades to come,” he said.
He thanked for the important steps the government is taking to support industrial parks.
“The Ministry of Economy has made a powerful decision to compensate 50% of the costs of building communications when creating industrial parks. I am also grateful to the Kyiv Regional State Administration for its assistance in organizing the forum, as well as to the previous head of the administration – with his support we started working on the creation of our industrial park. And with the support of the local community, deputies and the head of the city council, we managed to implement the laying of roads and communications in the park,” the entrepreneur said.
As reported, the Finnish Peikko Group Corporation announced on Thursday the commissioning of an industrial building for the future plant for the production of concrete joints and composite structures in the Bila Tserkva Industrial Park, with planned investments of EUR 3 million.
“The Finnish company is not just investing, but also sharing knowledge and experience, training our people. English and German companies are also building their production facilities here. There are also Ukrainian enterprises from Kharkiv and Sumy, real heroes who have not gone abroad but continue to work in Ukraine,” Khmelnytsky emphasized.
He recalled how twenty years ago he was invited to a meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister as an entrepreneur to share his vision of how to ensure rapid economic growth. “I honestly answered that I didn’t know how to achieve growth in a few months. But I know what we need to do now to make Ukraine a strong economy in 15-20 years: develop industrial parks, production, and education. Back then, we were not ready for this. Today I see that we are moving in the right direction,” Khmelnytsky emphasized.
He noted that the trend toward industrial recovery is global, for example, the United States is considering investing $1 trillion in its own industrial parks to bring back production from China.
The Bila Tserkva Industrial Park (IP), a project of the UFuture holding company of entrepreneur Vasyl Khmelnytsky, envisages attracting 30 resident companies and $250 million in investments by 2030, creating up to 4,000 jobs.
Source: https://interfax.com.ua/news/economic/1067627.html
